The cultivating of turf grass is a rapidly expanding industry in which the search for improved harvesting methods has been long and continuous. The awareness of the industry for increased automation to promote expanded production and reduce constantly increasing labor costs has over the last decade brought forth such apparatus such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,672,452 and 3,887,013.
Such prior apparatus represent efforts to increase production and quality while reducing the labor required, however, each still possesses disadvantages which require more manpower than desirable or rather complicated mechanisms to perform tasks otherwise performed by manual labor.
One of major unsolved problems in the prior art of sod harvesting equipment relates to the handling of the individual sod pads after being cut to the desired size. Most turf growers transport sod pads stacked upon pallets with alternate sets of pads orientated at right angles to provide stability to the stack resting upon the pallet.
This operation usually requires two men to handle the pads and cross-index them upon the pallet. U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,013 proposes rather expensive and complicated equipment to turn alternate pads prior to palleting, however, this does not represent a truly satisfactory solution, particularly in view of the present invention as disclosed herein.
The present invention relates generally to automated sod harvesting apparatus and particularly to an improved and unique sod pad severing means which not only severs the sod strip to form individual pads but also orients the pads in a manner which drammatically facilitates the stacking process.
The severing means of the present invention comprises a novel rotary frame such as a cylinder or drum upon which is mounted a plurality of transversely extending knife blades and a longitudinally extending knife blade. The blades are so arranged to make transverse and longitudinal cuts in the sod strip delivered to the severing means such that upon one complete rotation of the blades a plurality of individual sod pads are formed with alternate sets of individual pads automatically disposed in cross-wise fashion to facilitate palleting or similar handling.
Therefore in a very simple and inexpensive manner, the sod strips are formed and simultaneously assume the desired orientation to permit the desired stacked relationship.
No separate expensive or cumbersome equipment is necessary to turn alternate pads and proper automated stacking can be achieved in the simplest manner deemed appropriate.